SHSU Is One Of Nation’s Top Degree Producers For Minorities

Sam Houston State University is among the top 100 universities in the nation to confer the most undergraduate degrees on students of color.

The magazine Diverse: Issues in Higher Education recently released its annual “Top 100 Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred” report, and SHSU ranked in the top 100 in several categories.

Using preliminary graduation data reported by two- and four-year institutions to the U. S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics for the 2009-10 academic year, the magazine ranked universities not only on how many degrees were granted overall to minority students, specifically African American, Asian American, Native American and Hispanic, but also gave separate rankings by ethnicity for specific fields of study.

"Among our stated university goals are to promote and support diversity and provide equitable opportunities for underrepresented groups,” said SHSU President Dana Gibson.

“We are accomplishing these goals by attracting and educating qualified minority students who have dedicated and committed themselves to obtaining their degrees. The fact that we have placed in the top 100 universities conferring degrees on this student population confirms that our efforts are working well," she said.

“In addition, I am proud that the university has a graduation rate for African American students three percentage points higher than the overall student body,” she said.

SHSU’s highest ranking—64 out of 100—was in the number of Hispanic students earning bachelor’s degrees in all disciplines combined.

Other rankings for SHSU include 80th in the number of African-American students earning bachelor’s degrees in all disciplines combined; 96th for American Indian students earning bachelor’s degrees in all disciplines combined; 96th for total minority students earning bachelor’s degrees; and 80th for traditionally white institutions offering degrees.

SHSU granted undergraduate degrees to 882 minority students in 2009-10, accounting for 27 percent of the overall class.